drjoey1500

I was going to change my deathadder's blue LED's to red. I've seen it done before online, but they didn't say specifically how they did it. I think they just changed them, but I just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to short anything.

So since blue leds are roughly 3v, and my red ones are 1.8v, will it be ok, or will I have to add a resistor?

Thanks for the help!

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[Project] Reborn Legacy *Updated 8/28*

HD202/Closed cirumaural mod

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Funcrazy1

Yea i know i want to change the logo to red and scroll wheel to blue

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Show4Pro

Yes it does matter. If your current LED runs with 3.0v, and the ones your replacing is rated for 1.8v, you will for sure need to and resistors to keep the new ones from burning out.

Assuming the LED draw 20mA, and you want the voltage to drop from 3 to 1.8, a 60ohm resistor will do.

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hitman1985

+rep for a helpfull answer

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whiterabbit

You could just hook them up in series on one blue led connection. 1 blue led=4.5v(5.5v max) / 2 bright red(2.5v max) leds in series=2.5v+2.5v=5v Problem solved.

drjoey1500

cool. So if I didn't put in a resistor they would burn out fast? I guess I could try to squeeze two in there. ~3.6v in series, but i think it might be a 3mm in there normally, and I have 5mm.

Thanks, I'd hate to ruin my new mouse

*edit* I might take it apart and check out what voltage/amps it has normally before I take the LED's out

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[Project] Reborn Legacy *Updated 8/28*

HD202/Closed cirumaural mod

RADEON::Ok, leaving now...

timxirish

Look to see if you can find any non-SMD resistor on the mouse's pcb. If you can find one, punch it in on this page to see what it is:
http://www.ealnet.com/m-eal/resistor/resistor.htm

Then you can calculate the resistor neccisary for the configuration you desire on this page:
http://ledcalc.com/

In the event the resistors are SMDs, you'll have to test their resistance with a multimeter. Usually consumer electronics contain resistors rated a bit higher than the DIY enthusiast would do.. But I suppose it depends on where the examples are pulled.

If you trust yourself with a soldering iron enough, do what I do and save the stock LEDs in case anything goes wrong with the new ones. Be sure to solder the new ones in with the right polarity. If you look into the dome of the LEDs themselves, one side has a big chunk of metal, and the other side is small. The leg with the big chunk is ground, and the smaller one is the positive end.

Also, not bashing whatsoever, as this is true.. but this is a little misleading:

That's under the assumption that those blue LEDs ARE running at 3v. When I read your first post you seemed to imply you were saying that as a generalization of blue LEDs. In that case, if you want to be 100% safe, use a multimeter to test how much power the positive LED point gives off, and choose your resistor off of that.

If you wire any additional LEDs to the mouse (ie. LEDs that aren't replacing an existing LED), I would personally wire them to the red USB wire (5v) with the proper resistor. It's ultimately up to you though.

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drjoey1500

Thanks a lot timxirish Once I summon up the guts and the time to do it, I'll take it apart and see what happens.

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[Project] Reborn Legacy *Updated 8/28*

HD202/Closed cirumaural mod

RADEON::Ok, leaving now...

timxirish

No problem. If you've got any other concerns about replacing the LEDs you can PM me. I'm no certified expert by any means, but LEDs are a bit of a hobby of mine.

Worst that can happen from a straight up swap of the stock LED and the new LED is the new LED burns out. I'm sure your mouse would be fine. In the past I've wired LEDs to the tray of an Xbox DVD drive and had 'em burn out.. DVD drive works fine, LEDs just got fried. .. One of these days I ought to put new ones in again.

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